Sloane Grammar School boy, if you seek your memorial,

 look around you but you'll need to register first.

Register and link up with old school friends again and become part of Sloane Reunited.

If you were a pupil or member of staff at Sloane you qualify to register for the website. Click on Missing Classmates at the top of this page to see if we've been expecting you. If you see your name, click on it and follow instructions. If your name's not there click on BECOME A MEMBER to learn more and then click the ADD NAME button to start the ball rolling or click Contact Us at the top of the page, read what you see then complete the box at the bottom of that page to ask me to add your name to the list.

It's Free, it's Easy, it's Secure

and

You're Never Alone As A Sloane

TO ALL MEMBERS, DON'T FORGET!! -

PLEASE CHECK THE ANNOUNCEMENTS BOARD AT THE FOOT  OF THIS PAGE FOR ANYTHING IMPORTANT and, after you Log In, the CALENDAR OF EVENTS PAGE FOR DETAILS OF FORTHCOMING EVENTS. 

If you're having trouble logging in because you've forgotten your Password, click on Forgot Password? inside the Classmate Login box that appears after you click   Sign In   and you'll be Emailed a link to reset it.
 

You'll find other helpful tips under REMINDERS below.
 

  The Sloane

Hello and Welcome to

Mark Foulsham's

Sloane Grammar School website

If I built it I knew you would come

A School that invited loyalty

 
Gone But Not Forgotten

'Men are we, and must grieve when even the shade

Of that which once was great is pass'd away.'

William Wordsworth

On the Extinction of the Venetian Republic

You may think you're done with the past but the past isn't done with you!
 

"The merits of a school are judged as much by the men it produces as by their achievements as boys" - 

(Old Cheynean D.J. Cowie, March 1929)

 

If you're a member, click on an image (     ) at the top for more. 

Here's what you'll find -

   = Messages waiting in the Message Centre - 
              The red bubble shows how many.

   = Website activity - 
              Check for things you may have missed.
 

   = Member functions -
                Edit Profile, Edit Contact Info (to keep your Email Address/es, Home Address, and Phone number/s up to date. Add your Birthday here too if you didn't when you joined), Change Password, Log Out, Message Centre (to read and send messages to other members), Notify Me (for indicating your website Notification and  Profile Subscription choices).

     
         AND FINALLY, IF AT ALL POSSIBLE, -
 

Please let a close relative know of your participation in the Sloane website and show them how to use the Contact Us page to notify me in the sad event of your death. Not only will this allow me to notify other members, it will also put a stop to any website generated emails finding their way to your Inbox. Thank you.

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Come on in! 
Don't be late! 
This is one detention 
You'll be pleased to take.
               

    A WARM WELCOME 

to fellow Cheyneans and passers-by, from the Official Sloane Grammar School 1919-1970 Old Cheyneans and Friends web site.

I, Mark Foulsham, at Sloane 1963-70, created this site in August 2008 to record for posterity all that I can, and for all those who attended Sloane or simply have a Sloane connection, to share and enjoy. Feel free just to browse or, if you feel you qualify to join us, make full use of the site by becoming a Registered Classmate. It's Free! 

To start the registration process -

Click Here to Register 
 

If it doesn't work for you it's because I'm no longer around and new memberships aren't available. While I'm still alive, I'll also be happy to send a personal invitation to anyone else with a Sloane School Chelsea connection who you think might like to join us. Just enter their Email address in the MISSING CLASSMATES box to your right and click Send Invite.  

We may not understand why but memories of our days at Sloane remain with us while others do not. Whether they're good or they're bad, I'd like to give all old boys the opportunity to keep those memories alive.

 Aspirations and Objectives

Sloane never had a motto and although our school badge is based on the lion rampant and boar's head of the Cadogan family crest their motto, Qui Invidet Minor Est or He That Envies Is Inferior, is not really appropriate so I'll adopt the one to be found on the Coat of Arms of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea as it suits us nicely -

Quam Bonum In Unum Habitare

 (What A Good Thing It Is To Dwell Together In Unity) 

It is hoped, in some small way, to be able to have similar objectives to those stated for the first issue of The Cheynean in December 1926  -

"To record faithfully the major activities of the School, to promote and foster a corporate spirit in the School, to excite a greater keenness both in the games and in other phases of its social life, and to serve as a link between present members of the School and the Old Cheyneans".  -

and also to bring together, once again, old friends and classmates, and those of us who have outlived the school and share a common interest in its history and its future.

Sadly, I've no memory of having ever sung or even heard a school song but apparently one was written by music Master Mr Seymour Dicker (who retired in 1930) in 1928. Called Carmen Sloanense, it was first sung in July of that year by pupil J E Bush who played the Pirate King in Sloane productions of The Pirates of Penzance. What became of it after that first performance is a mystery but it contained the lines -

"Salve, the School and its scholars so keen,

 Long may they keep its memory green."

 If you've any memories of Sloane you'd like to share, use the Contact Us page to send them in and, whilst you're there, register for the site as well. 

Once you've registered, you can activate the Instant Messaging feature that allows you to hold a 'real-time' online conversation with anyone else who has logged on to the website. You can also send a message to someone else on the site via the Message Centre or by using their Profile. Click on their name on the Classmate Profiles page then click on the red 'Send ? a private message' at the top of their Profile.

After you've registered, why not take a look at all the Classmate Profiles ? Even if you don't know the person involved, the information they've put on their Profile can be interesting, illuminating and fun, and often brings back memories of something you thought you'd forgotten about.

If, at any time after becoming a member, you're unsure about anything click on this Using This Site link for an explanation or contact me direct via the Contact Us page.
              

 * * * * * * * *
 

 Why Not Take a Look at Where your Classmates are Living?

Find out the Postcode of a Classmate from their Profile (if they've agreed to let everyone know it) then Click on the link below, enter the details where it says 'Address', then Click on 'Go'. Not every country is covered yet and those that are have limited coverage, but it's worth a try.

Here's the link. Have fun - http://www.vpike.com/

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The Sloane News

BREAKING NEWS!

Irish Plane Crash!!

Ireland's worst air disaster occurred late last night when a small four-seater plane crashed into a cemetery. Irish search and rescue workers have recovered 987 bodies so far but they expect that number to climb as digging continues -

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Tories whittle down candidates for leader

Contrary to popular belief, in an attempt to really test the ability of the remaining Tory leadership contenders, there was actually a behind the scenes swimsuit round and a pop trivia quiz.

Party insiders were hoping the change would ensure a better job being done than the last couple of disastrous leaders chosen through more traditional means.

The swimsuit round was held at the Droitwich Spa Lido, just outside Birmingham, where contestants were required to model two different swimwear outfits and parade around the pool while being scrutinised by party members.

Robert Jenrick and Tom Tugendhat were said to have been looking forward to the round and were both confident of success. James Cleverly underwent extensive plucking.

The pop trivia quiz was be held in the Royal Oak in Halesowen and consisted of ten rounds including a picture round and clips round. Kemi Badenoch has been prewarned that attempting to use smartphones to find the answers she submits will not be accepted, nor will denying she has done something that literally everyone saw her do.

James Cleverly was expected to do well in this round as he is known to be a lifelong Bananarama fan and even declared himself President of the Parliamentary Bananarama fan club which was subsequently disbanded after only attracting one other member in the form of Sir Vince Cable.

It was hoped that the introduction of the swimwear round and pop quiz would help the party avoid their previous mistakes in choosing party leaders who are incompetent, unlikeable, and stupid – or some combination of all three.

Although it was thought that, after all, it can’t be any worse than the process that led to Liz Truss moving into Downing Street, we now know that it made no difference whatsoever. With it now being a toss-up between Kemi and Robert, and with there now being no one left who looks as if they could run the proverbial p*ss-up in a brewery, it looks as if Labour will be looking forward to many years in power. We're all doomed!

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You just can't keep him out of it....

Despite the best efforts of most people in politics, it seems inevitable that Boris Johnson will surface whenever the opportunity presents itself and has now denied that he ever received any donations for personal clothing -

Due to rising petrol prices, next year's motor show will be dominated by vehicles from the Amish communities with promotion of the new economical 8 - seater being given priority -

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Supermarket chains take advantage of the waste in our oceans
 

*
 

A New York judge has delayed former President Donald Trump's sentencing on felony criminal charges until Nov. 26.

"This is not a decision this Court makes lightly but it is the decision which in this Court's view, best advances the interests of justice," Judge Juan Merchan wrote.

Merchan issued the ruling after Trump's attorneys had asked him to postpone the Sept. 18 sentencing until after the November 5th election to allow them to appeal a pending ruling involving presidential immunity.

That ruling was expected by Sept. 16 — just two days before what would have been the first ever sentencing of a former president on criminal charges. Trump was convicted in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels near the end of the 2016 presidential campaign.

“A single business day is an unreasonably short period of time” for such an appeal, Trump attorneys argued in an Aug. 14 filing. “There is no basis for continuing to rush.”

Prosecutors from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office said they would "defer to the Court on whether an adjournment is warranted to allow for orderly appellate litigation" of any Trump appeal, but "would be prepared to appear for sentencing on any future date the Court sets."

The judge, Juan Merchan, said in his order that he took that as the DA essentially consenting to the request. He also acknowledged that the case "is one that stands alone, in a unique place in this Nation's history."

"The public's confidence in the integrity of our judicial system demands a sentencing hearing that is entirely focused on the verdict of the jury and the weighing of aggravating and mitigating factors free from distraction or distortion. The members of this jury served diligently on this case, and their verdict must be respected and addressed in a manner that is not diluted by the enormity of the upcoming presidential election. Likewise, if one is necessary, the Defendant has the right to a sentencing hearing that respects and protects his constitutional rights," the judge wrote.

The order also pushed back the date for his ruling on the immunity issue until Nov. 12 —a full two weeks before the possible sentencing date and after the election.

Merchan said the delay should help "avoid any appearance — however unwarranted — that the proceeding has been affected by or seeks to affect the approaching Presidential election in which the Defendant is a candidate."

Trump offered a different take during a speech later in the day to the Fraternal Order of Police in Charlotte, North Carolina when he said, 

"The Manhattan DA witch hunt against me has been postponed because everyone realizes that there was no case because I did nothing wrong. It’s a witch hunt. It’s an attack by my political opponents in Washington, D.C., and comrade Kamala Harris," he said. "This case should be rightfully terminated immediately."

The ruling was published about an hour after Trump blasted Merchan as a "very hostile" judge in an an address to reporters in Manhattan about the various legal cases he's facing, all of which he said are "hoaxes."

In a statement, Bragg’s office said, “A jury of 12 New Yorkers swiftly and unanimously convicted Donald Trump of 34 felony counts. The Manhattan D.A.’s Office stands ready for sentencing on the new date set by the court.”

The delay is the second time Trump’s sentencing has been postponed in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling expanding presidential immunity in an unrelated federal criminal case against Trump in Washington, D.C.. The sentencing was originally scheduled for July 11, but Merchan granted a request by Trump's lawyers for extra time to try to convince him that the high court's July 1st immunity decision should result in the verdict being overturned and the indictment being dismissed.

The drastic moves are necessary, they argue, because the Supreme Court's ruling shows that Manhattan prosecutors should not have been allowed to present evidence of his “official acts” at trial, including former White House aide Hope Hicks’ testimony describing a conversation she had with Trump while he was president, and the use of various public statements he made as a president as exhibits. Prosecutors maintain that the Supreme Court ruling had no impact on the evidence they introduced at trial, which centered on Trump’s personal conduct, and that the judge should leave the historic jury verdict in place.

Trump's attorneys also launched a second effort last month to move the state case into federal court, citing the Supreme Court ruling, another move that could delay the sentencing. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein rejected that request earlier this week.

Hellerstein rebuffed Trump' attempt  to move the case to federal court last year, finding that the evidence in the case "overwhelmingly suggests that the matter was a purely a personal" one for Trump — "a cover-up of an embarrassing event. Hush money paid to an adult film star is not related to a President’s official acts.” 

He said the high court's ruling had not changed his view. “Nothing in the Supreme Court’s opinion affects my previous conclusion that the hush money payments were private, unofficial acts, outside the bounds of executive authority,” Hellerstein wrote.

In a decision Friday shortly before Merchan's ruling, Hellerstein also denied Trump's bid to stay stay the case while he appeals the ruling.

Trump was at one point facing the prospect of four criminal trials this year. The New York case is the only one to have made it to trial. 

Trump, if it all goes to plan, will be the oldest candidate to ever run for President and mentally, he's probably older than that.  After two known attempts on his life he's probably beginning to realise he's going to be safer in prison, and it surely can't be long before these pictures become a reality for Trump -

Not convinced that's your colour, Donald.

There's always a chance Donald won't be around to be President. Someone's just given him a new pager for when he's on the golf course -

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Somerset and Dorset Railway finally react to the obscene behaviour of some of its Engine staff.
 

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* * *
 

JOKES OF THE WEEK

*

In the confessional -

"Bless me father, for I have sinned. I have been with a loose girl."

The priest asks, "Is that you, little Joey Barolo?"

"Yes father, it is."

"And who was the girl you were with?"

"I can't tell you father, I don't want to ruin her reputation."

"Well, Joey, I'm sure to find out her name sooner or later so you may as well tell me now. Was it Tina Minetti?"

"I cannot say."

"Was it Teresa Mazarelli?"

"I'll never tell."

"Was it Nina Capelli?"

"I'm sorry, but I cannot name her."

"Was it Cathy Piriano."

"My lips are sealed."

"Was it Rosa DiAngelo then?"

"Please, Father! I cannot tell you."

The priest sighs in frustration. "You're very tight-lipped, and I admire that. Bt you've sinned and have to atone. You cannot be an altar boy for the next four months. Now you go and behave yourself."

Joey walks back to his pew, and his friend Franco slides over and whispers,

"What did you get?"

Joey whispers back,

"Four months vacation and five good leads."

*

*

Not a lot of people know this but there's a store in New York where you can go to shop for a husband.

There are six floors in the store but you can only visit each floor once and each floor you go up the cost of a husband increases. You can chose any item from any floor but you can only go up a floor but not turn around and go back down. One woman went to the store to fnd herself a husband. On the first floor the sign on the door read -

"These men have jobs".

Floor two says -

"These men have jobs and love kids".

Floor three says -

"These men have jobs, love kids and are extremely good looking".

The woman thought this sounded pretty good but was still compelled to go on, so went up to the fourth floor where it said -

"These men have jobs, love kids, are extremely good looking and they help with the housework".

She couldn't believe her eyes but still decided to carry on upwards where, on the fifth floor, she saw a notice that read -

"These men have jobs, love kids, are extremely good looking, they help with the housework and have a very strong romantic streak".

She was having difficulty believing what she was reading and was tempted not to carry on but curiosity got the better of her and she marched up to the sixth floor. There she found a sign that said -

"You are visitor 31, 456, 943. There are no men on this floor. This floor exists solely to prove that women are impossible to please.

* 

Paddy called the RSPCA and said, 

"I've just found a suitcase in the woods with a fox and four cubs inside."

"That's awful," the RSPCA officer replied. "Are they moving?"

"I'm not sure," said Paddy. "But it would explain the suitcase."

*

* * *

THOUGHTS OF THE WEEK

Did you know that by replacing your potato chips with grapefruit you can lose up to 90% of what little joy you still have in your life?

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Survival Tip:  If you ever get lost in the woods start talking about politics and someone will show up to argue with you.

*

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Riverdance was invented by an Irish family with 14 kids and only one toilet.

*

A little bird was flying south for the winter and it was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground in a large field. While it was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on it. As the bird lay there in the pile of dung he began to realise how warm it was. The dung was actually thawing him out. He lay there all warm and happy and soon began to sing with joy, when a passing cat heard the bird singing and went to investigate. The cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung and promptly dug him out and ate him. 

Three little lessons can be learned from that parable -

1) Not everyone who sh*ts on you is your enemy.

2) Not everyone who gets you out of the sh*t is your friend.

3) When you're deep in the sh*t it's best to keep your mouth shut.

* * *

The Story of The NEVERWELLS (WHO ARE NEVER OUT OF TROUBLE)

Many years ago I picked up a small book at a car boot sale and now, with over three years in the world of Covid behind us, I thought it might be a good time to share its contents with you. 

The book in question, published in 1948 (the year the NHS came into being), is titled The Story of The Neverwells (Who Are Never Out Of Trouble) and was written by William Edwards, a doctor, under the pseudonym Dr. Goodenough.

The Neverwells included mum and dad, their small boy Billy, growing-up Mary and baby Roy, and came into being after the Editor of The People newspaper met two people on a train. One of them was a doctor friend of the Editor's, 'a kindly soul yet a man of the world who has one of the biggest practices in the South of England.' He said: 

"I am rushed off my feet these days. And in most cases I need not have been called in at all, if only people had a simple knowledge about ordinary illnesses."

Later, the Editor found himself talking to a woman passenger with two children -

"They're not too strong," she said, "always under the doctor with one thing or another. It's never serious you know, but the trouble is you can never be sure and so you must call the doctor."

The same night as he had spoken to the two people on the train, the Editor of The People telephoned his doctor friend and asked him if he would become Dr. Goodenough and write for him every week the story of a family - the Neverwell family - about their complaints and how he treated them, and in simple language so that ordinary people could at last learn the elementary things about illness.

For over a year before the book was published, Dr. Goodenough entertained and instructed People readers every week with the story of the never-ending complaints of the Neverwells. There were words of wisdom and understanding in these little features as well. So much so that, increasingly, the People was inundated with letters from readers asking for a book to be written. Hence, the book I picked up some 30 years after it was first published I now bring to you each time I update this Home Page of the website. I hope you find some enjoyment in its pages and can see the comparisons it enables us to make between the way medicine was practiced back then and how much it has advanced in such a relatively short space of time whilst the personal touch has moved in the opposite direction.

The following piece concerns Mary Neverwell and her propensity for Fainting. -

Fainting

"I think I'm going to do it again," said Mary. Without further warning, she flopped full length on the floor, gave a deep sigh, went a nasty pale green colour, and became unconscious. Her alarmed mother took her by the shoulders and tried to prop her up against an arm-chair, but she just sagged sideways and hiccupped. Mrs. Neverwell tried slapping her face, pouring cold water on her forehead and finally, in desperation, burning a feather and holding it under her nose. This very smelly remedy seemed to have some effect. Mary coughed and then sneezed, opened her eyes and said: "What's that filthy smell?"

"Oh, you did give me a start," said Mrs. Neverwell, Going all down in a heap like that. Here, sit up in the chair while I get you a nice cup of tea."

"Can't I stay where I am? asked Mary.

"What, on the floor? In the draught? You'll catch your death! Of course not! Get up in the chair."

So Mary got in the chair and Mrs. Neverwell went to make tea. But when she brought it in, Mary was lying sideways in the chair and looking very green.

"I'd better go for the doctor," said Mrs. Neverwell. "Will you be all right till I get back?"

"Better have something to put my feet on - and I am so cold," said Mary, and shivered. Mrs. Neverwell brought her a rug and hurried off to Dr. Goodenough.

When they got back together, Mary was drinking her tea, looking a bit shaken, but definitely more human.

"I'm sorry I bothered you, doctor," said Mrs. Neverwell. She seems better now, but she did give me a fright. Do you think it is her heart?"

"I know it isn't," said the doctor. "I've examined Mary often enough and if there is one good part of her it is her heart. But you did say, yesterday, that you had a tummy ache, didn't you, Mary?"

"And diarrhoea," said Mary, "but that's better now. I was just standing up in school, during singing class, and I felt funny, so teacher sent me home. I'm all right."

"But why would she faint, if she hasn't got a weak heart?" asked Mrs. Neverwell.

"People faint," explained Dr. Goodenough, "because, for a short time,there isn't quite enough blood going to their brains. That makes them unconscious, and they fall down, which is quite the best thing they could do; because, being unconscious and being flat, there is very little demand for a good circulation, the brain soon gets enough again, and they come round. So, when a person faints, just leave them flat on the floor, and don't try any fancy tricks of sitting them up in chairs."

"There you are, mother," accused Mary. "You would make me get up."

"Well, how was I to know?" asked Mrs. Neverwell. "The floor isn't a very comfy place to be."

"It is when you feel like I did," said Mary. "But why did I faint, doctor, if I haven't got a bad heart?"

"As I was saying, fainting is due to a lack of blood to the brain. That can, of course, be due to heart disease and a generally bad circulation, though it is remarkable how seldom people with heart disease do faint. Most fainters have perfectly sound hearts. What you should realise is that no one has enough blood in the body to give a good circulation to every organ simultaneously. Actually, there is a centre in the brain, called the vaso-motor centre, which acts as a circulation control, shunting blood where it is needed. It does this by making the small blood vessels contract or expand, so they can take more blood through them, or shut it nearly off altogether. When you are thinking, or reading, extra blood goes to your brain. When you are running, extra blood goes to your legs, when you are eating, extra goes to your stomach, and so on. It works automatically, and the timing is very accurate, and you don't know anything about it till something goes wrong, and there is a 'lag'. When that happens, blood drains from your brain, and you faint. It's quite harmless, even if it is rather unpleasant."

"But why should there be a 'lag'?" asked Mary.

"Indigestion will do it, by demanding more blood round the digestive organs than can be spared. You were trying to sing at the same time. Strong emotion does it, by upsetting the vaso-motor centre in the brain: that's why people faint when they hear bad news, or when they see blood. Young people like Mary sometimes faint for no reason at all - just because the mechanism hasn't got used to working perfectly. Do you feel better now?"

"I'm all right, thanks,"

"Don't worry anymore about it, then."

She felt all right by the time her father came home. He said he had ricked his back at work, but it would wear off. In the morning, however, it was so stiff he could not turn over in bed, and back to the house Dr. Goodenough had to come!

Could Mr. Neverwell's ricked back have been an excuse for a much-needed few days off work or was it something like lumbago. Find out the answer next time and what the overworked Dr. Goodenough recommended.

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* * * * *

The Home We Called Sloane
 

The Sloane building seen from Hortensia Road in 1908  

The Sloane building was 100 years old in 2008, although it didn't actually start life as a boys' school until after the First World War, during which it served as a hospital. It still stands and many memories are, no doubt, ingrained in its walls along with the odd name and ribald comment. Who knows what the future holds, despite its Grade II listing on May 7th, 2002. Grade II listed buildings can be altered, extended, or even demolished, but only with Local Authority consent, so it may be that the building is considered historically or architecturally interesting enough for it's fabric to remain untouched. Some consideration may have been given to it having been the first purpose-built secondary school in London, and it is certainly one of only 3% of all ages of listed buildings that was built in the 20th century. Schools generally are seen as a good investment by developers because they're easy to convert. They are likely to be structurally sound because the authorities will have inspected them regularly to ensure they comply with Health and Safety requirements. 

To learn more about what has happened to the building we left behind visit the Sloane Today page once you've become a registered member.

Sadly, Sloane Grammar School for Boys only lasted 51 years, from 1919-1970. Sloane old boy John Binfield, in one of his poems, writes -

... the school, with
All its past, was sucked into a huge
Turbulent sea of glass in Pimlico
And sank without trace. "full fathom five..

Sea nymphs hourly ring his knell.
Hark, now I hear them. Ding-dong bell".

The exterior of the building still survives in the form we all remember even if the interior doesn't. It would have been wonderful to have been able to celebrate, in 2019, what would have been its centenary as a boys' school, had it remained in existence as such. Unfortunately, for us, it wasn't to be, and the Covid-19 pandemic that gripped the world in 2020 and beyond didn't allow for a late celebration either. Maybe one day...... 
 

Sloane seen from the rear in 2014

* * *
   
This Website And The British Library's Web Archive

Please Note: - The school building still remains but not as a school. I've tried to preserve as much of its history and old boys' memories of it as I can, on this website. You might like to know that once I'm no longer around and have shuffled off to that classroom in the sky, this website will remain intact. Once my monthly payments to the Class Creator programmers cease the site will continue but to compensate them for their loss it will display adverts. If you're still around, you'll still be able to Log In to the site and carry on much as you did when I was alive. Naturally, the site will look exactly as it did (apart from the adverts) on the day I died. What will not be possible are any new members, unlikely as that is, as I won't be here to verify they are who they say they are.

In addition, in 2013 , just before the Legal Deposit regulations came into force, I asked to register the website with the British Library's UK Web Archive as one of historical interest and they agreed. So, when none of us are unable to Log In anymore or the Class Creator business ceases to operate, it will still be available for access by our children and grandchildren etc., as well as future historians, at this address -
 

Web Archiving
The British Library
96 Euston Road
London NW1 2DB
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)20 7412 7184
E-mail: web-archivist@bl.uk

Since 2013, publishers need to give a copy of every UK publication they make to the British Library. Five other major UK libraries may also ask to be given a copy. This system is called legal deposit and it's been a part of English law since 1662.

Print publications for legal deposit can be books, journals, sheet music, maps, plans, charts or tables. Now legal deposit also covers material published digitally such as websites, blogs, e-journals and CD-ROMs.

Legal deposit has many benefits for publishers and authors. The deposited publications can be read inside the British Library and will be preserved for future generations. Their works become part of the nation’s heritage, providing inspiration for new books and other publications.

Unfortunately, in the case of websites, the British Library say that much of the information contained in them cannot be archived for technical reasons. In addition, as almost all this website's pages are Password Protected, it will be impossible for them to be accessed unless I remove that restriction. At some point I will give the British Library's 'web crawler' access to our Password Protected pages to allow it to take a 'snapshot' of the site on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or 6-monthly basis. At the time of writing this, 2020, their system doesn't have the capability to crawl and archive private content that sits behind a Log In procedure. They will never be allowed access to members' Profiles and the personal information they contain.

The current generation of web crawlers cannot capture:

• Interactive, dynamically generated content
• Content that is only available via a search engine on the website, or some other form submission method
• Some types of JavaScript-driven menus
• YouTube videos, Flash movies and similar streaming audio or video (some audio and video files can be captured, e.g. those embedded via the standard HTML5 <video> or <audio> tags).

Unlike static HTML, which is relatively easy to capture, script code is very hard for traditional web crawlers to analyse, which is why the Library runs web browsers for a limited part of their crawls. Even that cannot capture very interactive web sites, like single-page web applications, or any site feature that needs a remote server to function. In practical terms this means that entering queries into the search box of an archived version of a website will not work. Standard links on the website, however, will work as normal.

Some JavaScript driven menus do not function well once archived. YouTube videos, Flash movies, and similar streaming audio or video are also beyond the capability of web crawlers. However, as members of the International Internet Preservation Consortium, contributors to the UK Web Archive are developing tools which will help capture this content in the future.

Attempts are made to gather all of the objects associated with a website including html, images, PDF documents, audio and video files and other objects such as programming scripts. However, the crawler software cannot automatically gather any material that is protected behind a password, without the owner's collaboration. Web site owners may however choose to divulge confidentially a user ID and password to allow archiving of these areas. So, as I said, I'll collaborate with the British Library to allow them to gather only non-invasive non-personal information behind the password protection if and when their archiving system becomes capable of it .

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Whatever our own personal reasons for it doing so, the school will still haunt most of us even if it disappears altogether. With that tenuous link, here's a poem that I came across in a copy of The Cheynean -

The Ghost of Sloane

 
When London's asleep and the School very quiet,
No sound of footsteps, no sound of a riot,
No sound of even the shuffle of feet,
No sound of the creak of a pupil's seat,
Out of the darkness the ghost of Sloane
Awakes from rest with a sigh and a groan.
Then up he arises to haunt the School
Climbing the stairs in the guise of a ghoul.
He shuffles and clanks down each corridor
Into the classrooms where stand desks galore.
He examines each desk and checks the boys' work,
Allots ghostly marks in the dark and the murk.

If you ever lose books from out of your desk,
And the teacher upbraids you and calls you a pest,
Just tell him my story, however tall,
Of the white shrouded phantom that haunts the School Hall.

                                                    J. Hollingshead (3C)

As for us, the boys who used to attend our Chelsea school, we probably considered ourselves 'Chelsea men' but I doubt that many of us fitted the description in this poem, written when he was in the 5th year by one time Sloane Schoolboy, A R Doubledee. I get the impression he didn't particularly approve of the 'Beatniks' of the late 50s and early 60s that he found himself sharing Chelsea with or, as he called them the 'Weirdies' -                                                                        

 
The Weirdies

The Chelsea man is excessively queer,
He only drinks coffee and doesn't like beer.
He's always "chatting" the girls, and yet
This seems to make him "one of the set".

His unkempt chin and uncut hair
Go with his feet which are usually bare.
If he wears shoes, they've never got soles,
And he's usually found in Bohemian holes.

His outsize sweater is generally black
Contrasting well with his shorty mac.
He wears his clothing merely to show
That he can keep up with the boys of Soho.

To find a girl he doesn't look far,
But into the nearest coffee bar,
Where he's sure to meet a Bohemian "yob".
They're all from Chelsea - what a mob!

The girls with hair right down their backs
Wear irregular clothes that look like sacks.
They walk about wearing father's sweater:
I really don't see why he should let 'er.

Their gaudy clothes of reds and greens
Match up with the style of their men-friends' jeans.
Now that's how it goes with the latest style:
Girls on their faces make-up pile,
The men wear anything they can find -
I shouldn't stare, I should just act blind!

A.R. Doubledee (5b)

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